In part 4 of my series on Forensic Genealogy, we look at what is happening in Iowa. The Iowa Supreme Court, in a 4-3 split, decided on June 18, 2021, to ban police from searching the people’s uncollected trash without a warrant. In doing so they outlawed a decades old investigative technique. The Justices said […]
Forensics
The Ethics of Forensic Genealogy part 3
Two US states have enacted bills to protect people’s privacy when the authorities use commercial direct-to-consumer DNA databases and forensic genealogy to solve old crimes. What happens when they use DNA databases? Police use DNA from an old unsolved crime scene and compare it to genetic online profiles in commercial DNA databases. They will try […]
Neosho Grace Doe is Shawna Beth Garber
Now officially identified as Shawna Beth Garber (born March 1, 1968) she was known as the ‘McDonald County Grace Doe’ and on my website as Neosho Grace Doe. Why did I give her that name? After her remains were recovered, Detective Lorie Howard sent them to Freeman Hospital in Neosho and the scans were sent […]
The Ethics of Forensic Genealogy part 2
In March 2019, I wrote about the Ethics in Forensic Genealogy. I indicated that while there was room for joy, because we would be able to solve old crimes, that there was also room for concern. In part 2, I’d like to highlight some of those concerns. Forensic Genealogy is not just instrumental in catching […]
DNA profile breach
From TechCrunch: “GEDmatch, the DNA analysis site that police used to catch the so-called Golden State Killer, was pulled briefly offline on Sunday while its parent company investigated how its users’ DNA profile data apparently became available to law enforcement searches. The company confirmed Wednesday that the permissions change was caused by a breach.” GEDmatch […]
Detecting DNA
In the post I wrote about Gina Renee Hall, I mentioned that her sister Diane “was introduced to Dr. Arpad Vass, a forensic anthropologist who had invented an instrument to detect DNA buried beneath the surface. Since then, Gina’s remains have been discovered across eight locations throughout the New River Valley using that device.” Vass’ website states that […]
Gina Renee Hall partial remains found
Gina Renee Hall went missing on June 28, 1980. She was a freshman at Radford University, Radford, Virginia. After a night out in Blacksburg, she left with Stephen Epperly, a former Virginia Tech football player. Epperly was ultimately charged with Hall’s murder and “became the first person in Virginia — and only the fourth in […]
Justice for Cheri Domingo and Greg Sanchez
Justice at last. On June 29, 2020 at 130pm EST, we heard Joseph James DeAngelo Jr., a.k.a. the Golden State Killer plead guilty to the murders of Cheri Domingo and Greg Sanchez. Today, DeAngelo Jr is pleading guilty to a string or murders, rapes, robberies, and other crimes that were committed from the mid-70s to […]